ON THIS DAY...

Richard Day reviews this day in the club's history

News relevant to Gillingham FC on this day in history, games, players, debuts etc...

NEWS…


1988 - Oxford United agreed to pay £285,000 for Gills centre-half Colin Greenall


FIXTURES…

1902 - Swindon T 1-1 New Brompton         SLD1
Jack Frettingham found the net in Wiltshire

1908 - New Brompton 2-2 Crystal Palace SLD1
Goals from James Hartley and F Spriggs earned a point

1913 - Swindon T 2-1 Gillingham                SLD1
A John Boden wasn't enough against the Robins

1930 - Gillingham 5-2 Northampton T        D3S   Att: 4,665
Andrew Durnion scored four and Fred Cheesmur added another in this rout of the Cobblers. Former Brentford centre-forward Durnion's tally saw him become the first Gills player to register four goals in a Football League game.

1936 - Luton Town 1-2 Gillingham              D3S   Att: 12,276
Fred Fisher and Dick Doncaster netted in the win at Kenilworth Road

1939 - Folkestone 0-0 Gillingham               SLC2

1958 - Swindon T 1-1 Gillingham                D3S   Att: 13,141
Scot Joe Hutton scored in this draw at the County Ground

1964 - Halifax Town 0-0 Gillingham           D4     Att: 2,080

1966 - Gillingham 4-2 Ipswich Town       Fr      Att: 3,587
New signing Bill Brown hit a hat-trick and Brian Gibbs added the other in this friendly victory

1977 - Gillingham 2-1 Shrewsbury T        D3    Att: 4,798
Goals from Damien Richardson and Danny Westwood earned the points

1983 - Gillingham 3-1 Chesterfield          D3   Att: 2,187
Phil Handford, Steve Bruce and Tony Cascarino all struck to topple the Spireites

1985 - Wigan Ath 3-3 Gillingham             D3   Att: 5,017
A point was gained at Springfield Park thanks to efforts from Karl Elsey, Mark Weatherly and Dave Mehmet

1991 - Cardiff City 2-0 Gillingham            D4   Att: 2,170

1992 - Gillingham 5-1 Rotherham Utd  D4   Att: 2,488
The Gills thumped the Millers thanks to a hat-trick from Steve Lovell, plus other goals from Mark Dempsey and David Crown

1997 - York City 2-3 Gillingham             D2   Att: 2,748
Iffy Onuora, Simon Ratcliffe and Ade Akinbiyi were all on target at Bootham Crescent

2003 - Gillingham 3-0 Grimsby Town  C   Att: 7,158
Rod Wallace hit two and Chris Hope notched the other in a comfortable victory

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BIRTHS...

1920 - Bill Collins

Born and raised in Belfast, Buster played for Belfast Celtic, Distillery and Luton Town before joining the Gills, along with the Burtenshaw brothers Bill and Charlie, for a combined fee of £10,000 in October 1949.

He made his debut for the club at Worcester City and went on to make a total of 51 appearances for the club, including 13 games as the club returned to the Football League in the 1950-51 season.

After his two years at Priestfield, Buster moved to Kent League side Snowdon Colliery Welfare where he spent five seasons as a player, even then he continued to work for the Gills in a scouting capacity.

In 1957 he returned to Gillingham as Reserve Team Coach under new Manager Harry Barratt, a position he held for ten years before Barratt's successor Freddie Cox, asked him to take charge of the club's first youth scheme in 1965.

Buster held that post for 20 years during which time he played a pivotal role in nurturing the talents of Dave Peach, Dick Tydeman, Steve Bruce, Micky Adams and many more.

He also held the positions of first-team trainer and kit manager.

Bill was awarded two testimonials by the club, against Arsenal in 1983 and Manchester United a decade later to mark his retirement at the age of 73.

Aged 90, he died peacefully at his Twydall home in November 2010.